'Crooks and Squares' is a study of crime as a way of life. By interviewing drug addicts and property criminals, Malin Akerstrom presents a study of the demands, attractions, and drawbacks of criminal lifestyles. She discovers which elements are exciting and which are dull; what the pros and cons are in comparison to a more conventional lifestyle; whether social workers are "more trouble than they're worth"; what problems exist for criminals, and their strategies for solving them. This study is valuable not only because it enriches our knowledge of a criminal's everyday life but because it helps us understand the cause of becoming and remaining criminal.